the age of absolute monarchs, the age of which versailles is a symbol, was drawing to an end.hings would never be the same. for louis, versailles was intended first to be a garden, and he imagined that garden as an outdoor palace built next to the one constructed in stone, and the one could not be understood without the other. in the garden, louis exercised the same despotism over nature that he did indoors over his court. these two tyrannies changed, softened even, over the long years of the reign. the most famous formal garden in europe, with its rigorous geometries of terraces and staircases, its regular parterre, gave way gradually to a greater informality of trees and fields, not merely because it was so expensive to keep up, but because a new attitude to nature was developing-- more sentimental, intimate, romantic. the mood of this moment is captured in a painting done not long after louis' death-- antoine watteau's departure from the isle of cythera. a group of courtiers prepares to leave the island of love. the painting signals the new attitude-- more informal, poetic,

. >> it's like versailles before the french revolution.sailles and didn't know much what went went on outside that world. >> john: congressman alan grayson lost his seat but ran again and won. he says if it is royalty in america. >> it's not congress, it's the lobbyists and who made it that way? >> john: by passing all these laws. if you have a big government there is more government to fight over. >> there is that argument, but will the real well think is not in washington, d.c.. >> john: it's on wall street, he says. there is a lot of money there, but there is a big difference. >> in the private sector if you can find a way to cut costs you are a hero. if you can find a way to cut costs in bureaucracy you are goat. they measure success by the size of their budget. >> big budgets give special interests reason to invest in d.c. and invest they have. unions say teachers are under pay but their union looks rich. this is their headquarters. we're told it's worth hundred million dollars. the atrium is called an environmental oasis. they didn't

. >> the period of windows but i think that is getting the senate to ratify the treaty of versaillesand have united states joined the league of nations but that was certainly a notable failure. whether that was as catastrophic as wilson thought or not is another question. the problem with the full league of nations idea was that in order for it to work in the countryside to work together, cooperate, had to give up some of their own sovereignty. and nobody was really very eager to do that, including wilson. so how'd you make a cooperative international organization work when no one is willing to surrender any of their sovereignty is a real problem. government changed dramatically. it was new for the president to take the lead in a country the way and wilson did. it was unusual i think for presidents to be the forefront of the administration. and i think it was also, we are now much more used to it, and i would say now that what has happened is congress has really reasserted its role in the way it had not for a number of years. i think the thing that bothered the leaders of the opposit

everybody thinks about is the failure to succeed in getting the senate to ratify the treaty of versailles and have the united states join the league of nations. that was seven a -- certainly a notable failure. whether it was catastrophic as wilson thought or not is another question. the problem with the whole league of nations idea was in order for it to work meant that countries had to work together, give up their own sovereignty, and no one was eager to do that, including wilson, so how you make a cooperative international organization work when nobody's willing to surrender sovereignty is a problem. the government, of course, changed dramatically. it was new for the president to take the lead in the countries in a way that wilson did. it was unusual, i think, for a president to be the fore front of the administration, and i think it was also where now much more used to it, and i would say know what happened is congress really reasserted its role in a way it had not for a number of years. i think the thing that bothered the leaders of the opposition in congress, particularly about wilso

course made no economic sense at all i mean as churchill pointed out when during the treaty of versailles after the first world war if you go and strip all the germans of their goods and ship it to england all you do is put in just manufacturers out of business all the free oil would have just been destruction to the oil oil legitimate oil interests around the world but the cost of the war is truly staggering close to fifty thousand dollars per household and that's of course not counting all the interest it's going to accumulate so one point six trillion dollars has been spent to date the total cost to twenty fifty three is considered to be. six trillion dollars i think that's a little more than half the g.d.p. of america and and this doesn't count all the opportunity cost of what the people who are in the war and whose brains and bodies have been mangled might have done with their productive energies had they not been so traumatized so the cost of the war incalculable what bothers me so much abbi is that all the people who are waving flags and cheering as everybody went off to war and wh

the end of his presidency or the league of nations, just as the thing was coming to the treaty of versailles was coming to a vote in the senate. he had a massive stroke that paralyzed him and left him without the ability to beat in the way he had in negotiating with congress and getting what he that? ability to compromise and negotiate and as a result, when the battle came down in the end in the fall of night to 19, he got eaten because he simply couldn't do it anymore. that was in large part to his house. are issues of some important between the senate and the president, but certainly has halted play role in getting the treaty passed. people think of wilson as a moralist who thought of a policy of strictly moralistic terms and was very rigid and flexible in the thing people don't know is how effective wilson was in terms of as a politician. i was really the secret to his success. he was very skilled in working with other people even though he didn't seem to like people very much. wilson is probably one of the most important presidents in the 20th century but it really helped transfer in the

the first time it'd been defeated going back to a world 11 and the treaty of versailles. the ban on cluster bombs which he favored. he vowed to pentagon pressure and walked away from it. the ban on landmines, again military pressure clinton folded and finally the international covenant that talked about fanning the role of using teenagers in combat which clinton also favored and he walked away from that as well. all of these are treaties that are still in play that are being ratified by governments but the united states is essentially lined up with nations we call rogue states who have an sign these treaties. when you look at the comprehensive test ban treaty and also the international criminal court which is an extremely important treaty you can see the harm that was done to american foreign policy as we pursue the rule that relied essentially on military power. george w. bush i don't have to really talk about. i think bush is responsible for the worst decision any president throughout our history her history and not just in our lifetime has made in national security and